fast and curious

Curious 52

Congrats on a year of learning! For the past 52 weeks, Curious students across the world have been stretching their learning muscles, picking up 52 new skills along the way. When we launched the Curious 52 Challenge last January, we never guessed that there would be this much excitement.

With 52 lessons in the books, we’d like to thank our loyal Curious students for their commitment to lifelong learning over the past year--we couldn’t have done it without you! We’d also like to give a huge congratulations to our Challengers who successfully completed all 52 lessons and won a free iPad and a year of free learning.

One of the main reasons we work at Curious is because we are passionate about learning new things. We had so much fun taking the Challenge with you this year, and we can’t wait to see what you learn in 2015.

People always say you should walk before you run, but they never mention that you should do a dynamic warm-up before that.

I’ve been training for a half marathon for the past few months, and my training plan has mysterious words on it like “dynamic warm-up”... whatever that means. Until I took The Balanced Runner’s lesson on how to properly prepare to run, I used to walk for a few minutes and call it good. If I was really feeling dedicated (or really dragging my feet) I would sometimes stretch a little bit.

Now with these exercises I can get major muscles ready to go without irritating them or causing them harm. With only three major movements it’s easy to remember, and I can do them whether I’m going for run at lunch or hitting the trails on the weekend.

One of the most important things I learned from this lesson is to not do any static stretching before running because it causes micro-tears in the muscle and makes them weaker and more irritated (I guess I’m going to have to find another delay tactic). The best part? A gradual warm-up helps prevent post run soreness. Count me in!

This week I was tasked with Alexa’s French Greetings and Phrases lesson for the Curious 52 Challenge. I wanted to get the most out of the experience so I decided to only speak in French for the week. Armed only with the French greetings and short phrases I learned from Alexa’s lesson, I had a hard time accomplishing anything this week. However, I do believe my pronunciation and memorization of these French words have improved dramatically!

I’ve included a brief video below that demonstrates the types of challenges I faced at work during my French immersion week. I’ve since used interpretative dance to more fully express myself and kept conversations to no more than two minutes long.

Alexa was the perfect French teacher for me. She pronounced every word slowly and clearly. I also appreciated the “cheat sheet” she included in the Attachments section of the lesson.

My key learnings from this experience:

French immersion doesn’t work if you’re the only person speaking French.

French pronunciation is difficult, but if you keep practicing, it gets easier.

I’ve got so much more to French to learn - a trip to Paris is in order!

In preparation for my trip, I’ll make sure to expand my knowledge of the French language by watching the rest of Alexa’s lessons. Merci beaucoup, Alexa!

Believe it or not, this is not the first time I’ve looked up how to tie knots. Not that I have much use for them—I’m not one for mountaineering or boating—I just think that the way they come together is hypnotic.

I have always taken issue with online instructors in the past for going too fast or for simply showing how the knot forms without explaining the action in each step. Bruce Wade’s clear, repeated method in his lesson How to Tie Six Loop Knots is perfect for me. The instruction is never monotonous, and Bruce always seems to have the right word at the ready to describe the next step (“fold in the loop under the straight edge” really hit me). His lessons even include PDF handouts with which you can follow along—not even kidding.

With my newfound knowledge, I think I’m finally ready to test out Cragmont Park, a beautiful little rock climbing spot in my neighborhood. Though it might be even cooler if I took up a second career as a knot mathematician.

Tips:

Use heavy material. The shoelace I used was too thin to retain shapes, which was frustrating at times.

Listen during the first demonstration, then follow along. It’s much easier to follow Bruce’s ins and outs once you’ve broken down each step.

I recently had a minor foot injury and I went to the podiatrist to find out what was going on. Seeing no structural damage, she suggested I purchase new shoes. I actually listened to her advice (see Mom!) and have since put many pain-free miles on a fresh pair.

As you probably know, one of the best things about working at Curious is our collective love of play. I tested my retention from Dr. Hasenbank’s lesson on my recess shoes--once my first choice for running and now possibly the most important pair of shoes I own. I learned about forefoot mobility, midfoot stability, and rear foot canter. I’m already looking forward to buying my next pair of running shoes so I can impress the people at Fleet Feet with my knowledge!

These soles have seen a lot, but I put them through their paces (get it?) to test their structural efficacy. The forefoot mobility and flexion was really great--they still bend very well. From what I understand this means that my foot is able to push off easily without wasting too much efficiency. Unfortunately, these didn’t hold up to the second test for midfoot stability. They bent in half which I now know is not supposed to happen.

All this tells me is that there’s room for improvement for me at recess. Thanks to Dr. Hasenbank’s lesson, now I know that once I lace up a new pair of shoes it’s game on. To paraphrase all of my athletic heroes, nothing can stop me when I have midfoot stability!

Card games never go out of style: whether I’m with family or friends, in my home or at camp, a deck of cards always leads to a great time. So when I saw that the Curious 52 lesson for this was “Introduction to Blackjack,” I knew I had to try my hand at the activity!

I started by preparing my materials: I fished out of my closet a couple collectors’ decks of cards that I still had from my magic-loving phase in middle school. I used to think my stainless steel carrying case and mini-deck made me the coolest kid on campus (I may not have been, but at least the gear made card games more fun). I figured a dealer’s visor was also important to get the full experience, but I couldn’t find one, so I improvised with this stylish visored racing helmet.

When I was ready, I played some rounds against myself to master the basics. Thanks to Vegas Aces’ clear explanations, it didn’t take me long to get the hang of the game— before I knew it, I was dealing like a pro. I also mastered the art of hand gestures, which I’ll definitely use to make myself look like a truly seasoned blackjack warrior.

I look forward to playing this game next time I’m looking for a fun card game to pass the time. But don’t tell my Mom - I still have a few years before I’m actually old enough to gamble!

I am a big fan of summer cocktails - fizzy, fruity, refreshing - what could be better on a hot day? So when I found out this week’s Curious 52 Challenge was to make a fresh fruit cocktail, I could hardly contain my excitement! Less than five minutes to a perfect summer drink? Sign me up!

Joe used fresh squeezed lemon juice, but Thai brought in a case of oranges from his tree earlier this week, so I decided to put those to good use. I also used fresh basil instead of mint in my rendition. I know, I’m shaking up the recipe so much, it hardly resembles the original, but hey - Joe DID say to mix it up and be creative!

My counter now lined up with ingredients and me now armed with a shot glass, a measuring cup, and my mini-shaker (I’m clearly a very well-equipped bartender), I was ready to assemble. Two parts vodka, one part juice, one part simple syrup, and a few leaves of basil. Shake it up, strain, and it’s time to enjoy!

My friend Rachel happened to be visiting and we both agreed the balance of fresh orange juice with earthy basil balanced perfectly. What a fabulous cocktail recipe for the summer - thanks Joe! Cheers!

Is Italy on your list of places to visit? It sure is on mine, and I’m sure it is on many other’s!

If you’re going to visit a foreign country such as Italy in the future like me, being familiar with the language is quite a useful tool to have at your disposal. With the help of Learn Italian Easy, I feel much more confident about my ability to interact with people and get around in Italy.

In the lesson Basic Italian Greetings, I learned the basics of interacting in Italian. It took only a few minutes to learn, and with a little memorization, I got it down!

The most useful aspect of this lesson was having two different people repeat the pronunciations, which gave me a better idea of the how to pronounce the words and phrases.

You know that feeling when you’ve run out of good ideas for dinner - and you’re already feeling a bit hungry? That’s when I queue up Breakfast for Dinner.

Besides being fast and a fun change of pace, Breakfast for Dinner also offers the perk of using ingredients that are already in my pantry and fridge. I usually go with a classic omelette, huevos rancheros, or fried egg sandwich - but sometimes a break from egg dishes is necessary. Enter Fluffy Apple Pancakes from Rebecca Brand Recipes.

I’ve never seen this take on incorporating apples into pancakes - you place a whole, round slice of apple in the pan, then pour the batter over the apple slice. The result is half-apple, half-pancake - and totally delicious.

Thank you Rebecca Brand, for adding a great new recipe into my Breakfast for Dinner repertoire! I suppose I could also make them for breakfast...

Forget all of the times your mom said not to play with your food. Myles Power’s lesson, How to Extract Strawberry DNA, is a fun, hands on science experiment.

I first extracted DNA from strawberries in my high school biology class. I remember thinking that our teacher had to be completely insane. How could anyone remove DNA from anything with stuff I had in my house? Impossible!

Even though I have seen it work, part of me was still skeptical when I was mixing together the ominous sounding “extraction fluid.” I wasn’t sure how pulverized I was supposed to make the strawberries, but since it’s kind of relaxing I kept smashing it until there weren’t any noticeable chunks.

I watched the video a few times before I got to straining (mostly because I couldn’t figure out how Myles folded the paper towel so expertly), but even so I still made the mistake of squeezing too hard and spilling some of the strawberry bits out. The good thing is that it didn’t get into my solution, just all over my hands.

While I did get DNA, my lab partner and I were significantly more successful back in the day.

The result this time was a lava lamp sort of solution that clearly separates the initial extraction solution from the rubbing alcohol and the strawberry DNA.

Everyone around the office was curious what the DNA would look like. When I was done acting like a mad scientist in the kitchen (I am sad to report I accidently forgot my swimming goggles at home or I would have worn them for the true effect), I proudly showed my results. While they had some enthusiasm for my tiny, white wisps of DNA, they were more interested in daring me to eat it.

Just weeks ago, I found myself careening down a steep mountain path. The road was clear (what luck!), the weather was perfect (what comfort!), and the vistas were inspiring (what a backdrop!). As I maneuvered corners and negotiated the canyon, I had a smile fixed permanently on my face.

Then, it happened.

A pothole, unseen and ill-willed, took hold of my front tire and sent me flying through the air. As my bicycle detached behind me, time slowed and my mind raced with everything I was grateful for: family, friends, puppies, sweet tasty burgers, and of course… my helmet.

My helmet was ruined but, fortunately, I walked away from the crash safe and sound. It was time to find something new to protect my noggin'.

Serendipitously, the latest Curious 52 challenge by Art's Cyclery made this a lot easier. With quick and simple instructions on how to properly fit a bicycle helmet, my trip to bike shop was made effortless. This was a big deal because, as I discovered, there are a lot of different helmets out there.

In the past, I had always clung to the idea that my helmet should cling to my head as tightly as possible. As Luke shows in the video, your helmet should follow Goldilocks’ own advice - not too loose, not too tight, but just right. Shaking my head like a wild man with the straps loose was a great test to see if the fit was right. I may have taken it a bit far, but definitely be sure to shake around to test the fit!

If you are searching for a new helmet, I encourage you to try on as many as possible until you find the one that really feels perfect. Even though the sizes may be the same, I found that some helmets were too tight or too loose in certain places. Tinker according to this lesson and you’ll know the right fit when you feel it.

I haven’t used the grill since last summer, so I was a little rusty this weekend, but Henry’s awesome grilling lesson got me right back on track AND taught me a bunch of new tricks.

I went to the local grocery store and grabbed Worcestershire sauce and Montreal Steak seasoning - we had both in the pantry, but they were expired. If this is the first time you are grilling for the summer, remember to check your “best by” dates! I also bought a couple T-bone steaks - the stars of the show - and some red peppers to snack on.

Henry recommends marinating for a full day. I didn’t have that much time, so I cut off the excess fat, covered both sides of the steaks with the sauce and seasoning as soon as I got home and dropped them in a ziploc bag.

While the steaks marinated, I hosed off the the grill and prepped the charcoal chimney. We didn’t have any newspaper handy, so I used a brown paper bag - it did the job. I poured the charcoal, lit the paper and set a timer for 20 minutes.

Once the charcoal was hot enough, I spread it out in the grill and placed the grate - scraping it with a wire brush to clean off last year’s residue. Following Henry’s advice, I waited until I could hold my hand an inch above the grate for a second or two before putting the steaks down. The flames flared up a few times, but covering the grill for 15-30 seconds each time took care of the that. I rotated the steaks after 2 and a half minutes and flipped them after 4. Henry’s tip about looking for moisture before flipping worked well for me.

In all honesty, I had a hard time motivating myself to tackle this week’s challenge. Give me squats, jumping jacks, something else, anything else -- because, when it comes to tummies, my preferred activities revolve a bit more around yummy snacks and beverages than around crunches.

I roped my roommate Libby into the challenge and, equipped with our yoga mats, iPad, and vitamin-D fueled energy -- we set out to strengthen our cores.

It’s hard not to adjust your perspective when cheery Kira comes on screen. She soon had us doing all sorts of creative exercises that could be adjusted for different skill levels. And, to my (pleasant!) surprise, she showed us several moves to that didn’t require us to “sit-up.”

Near the top of my list was the plank -- a great exercise for beginners and experienced exercisers, alike. Not only do planks work your obliques, they improve overall core strength and increase balance. A big plus: you don’t find yourself compromising technique (and hurting your back!) in order to feel the burn.

It’s May. Besides being the National Barbecue Month as well as the National Blood Pressure Month (who knew!) - it’s the month that brings us Mother’s Day, likely the most important holiday May has to offer.

This year Mother’s Day is even more special than any other year to me - I’m making my own Mother’s Day card. My mother of course would never believe her son would sign up to make a card with his own hands - I think she lost her faith in my crafting skills when I was in 3rd grade. But, with the encouragement of Maggie from Curious, I’m totally going to do it.

The task is daunting. Before watching the DIY Mother’s Day Card & Frame lesson, I had no idea about any of the tools or where to start. I went to a crafts store, pulled up the lesson on my Curious iPhone app just to remind myself what it was I should be buying. After coming home with a glue gun and a bunch of glitter, my wife (to my surprise) informed me that we already have all these things at home. Apparently she has “crafts box” laying in plain sight, that I didn’t even know existed.

Time to get to work. I first put a nice patterned sticker at the top and bottom of the card to “frame” it. I then used the letters to spell out “H a p p y M o m s D a y” (ran out of letter ‘h’ to spell Mother’s - oops, poor planning), and finally my favorite part - the glue gun. My first time using it turned out less than stellar - turns out the gun gets really hot, and the glue hardens very quickly. I had to put quite a bit extra to get all the glitter to stick. I also made a bit of a mess with it. My advice - put the glitter down as soon as you lay the glue.

I’m rather proud of the result. My mom of course would never believe that I made it myself. But my assignment submission and this blog post should totally convince her :)

When Maggie informed me that my blog post for Curious 52 this week would cover a salsa lesson, I wept like a child. She calmly explained that she meant salsa the food, and that in any event Thai had already covered salsa the dance in week 3.

Serendipitously, a friend of mine then invited me to his house for a fajita dinner. I shopped using the attached ingredient list, but I didn’t manage to actually take the lesson before I got to his house (let alone make the salsa). Fortunately, Easy Homemade Salsa taught me how in about three minutes. There were some nice touches I hadn’t used before, like red bell pepper and olive oil. And the close-up video of each of the steps was helpful, especially watching how an expert de-seeds a jalapeno pepper:

I was in an unfamiliar kitchen and making salsa for 6+ (while reluctantly sharing a knife and cutting board), so i’d say the whole process took me about 30 minutes (including taking the lesson!). Here is my project with some of the delectable result:

So aside from how to make salsa, what did i learn from this?

Like Maggie, I am quite the procrastinator (I actually knew this already).

Watch Learn Eat can teach salsa fast.

Chopping tomatoes is slow. I really want one of these vegetable choppers:

After graduating from college my best friend and I went backpacking through Europe for a month. One of my favorite parts was the time we spent in Munich, Germany. I loved everything about it; the sausage, the beer gardens, the people. However, the only german I knew was the phrase "Ein maß bitte" which served me well enough at the time. Yet I feel that my time there would have been even more enjoyable had I been able to speak German.

Here I am 5 years later, longing to return to Munich. On my next trip I am determined to arrive with the ability to speak the local language. It's at this point that I turned to the german instructional videos on Curious by Meister Lehnsherr. I breezed through his alphabet and pronunciation and soon found myself working on Introductions and Goodbyes.

What I like most about the lessons is that the teacher pauses and repeats each new word and phrase to give you a chance to practice it. At the end of the lesson he pretends to have a conversation with you. He asks you questions and pauses for a brief moment to give you a chance to answer. This was an excellent way to review what I had just learned, however, I still wanted to practice my new found skills on a real person.

With my previous travel mate a few hundred miles away and my fiancé unwilling to go on camera, I was left with my dog Stella. Now, Stella is a good old dog, but her pronunciation leaves a lot to be desired. Not to worry though. With a little help from My Talking Pet, Stella was just as good at German as I was.

Check out my project submission on Curious to see our conversation and give us feedback on our pronunciation.

Like millions of people who don’t have access to a washer/dryer at their place of residence, I go to a laundromat to get my clothes cleaned and spend $$$ each year. After watching How to Clean Your Washing Machine, I was curious how well (or badly) a commercial washing machine would fare.

I used ½ cup of bleach instead of the 1 cup specified in the lesson because I only had concentrated bleach on hand.

After selecting the hottest cycle, inserting 9 quarters (that’s $2.25!), pouring bleach into the proper compartment and firmly closing the door, I pressed the big green START button and waited to see what happened.

Soap suds appeared immediately and continued for the 3 wash cycles the machine is programmed for! The interior certainly looks cleaner and shinier when the washer finished ~30 minutes later.

Before

After

I’m stuck using a laundromat or hand washing everything for now. However, I know a cleaner washing machine to use for my next laundry day!

I totally enjoy dyeing eggs at Easter time, It makes me feel like a kid again. I love making a mess and showing off the gems to my peeps. But, this year, I wanted to up my game. I wanted magic…Enter Curious. The O'Neil Sisters lesson was egg-cellent.

Their infectious smiles and good humor is totally mood altering and their eggs came out so bright and saturated. I took the lesson on my iPhone in the Safeway parking lot so I could know what materials I needed for my egg-stravaganza. They used the standard issue teardrop packaged food coloring, and added quite a bit of vinegar to the water, that seemed to make all the difference.

On the way home from Safeway, I had a vision for my eggs. The world needed to have spectrum gradient eggs in it and I was the man to produce them. I devised a plan of layering the colors (see diagram) in order to create the green, purple and orange right on the egg!

I was pumped to get home and try. My egg-spectations were high. I boiled the eggs and prepared three baths of primary colors. The kit came with green, but green was for weaklings and I am a champion. I knew that blue and yellow make green and with a little careful dipping green would be mine!

I held the first egg with my fingers approximately 4/7 of the way into the yellow dye, counting off the three minutes (which turns out to be a long time to hold an egg between your fingers). I let it dry and then dipped into the red halfway up the yellow and held it for only 1 minute (I only needed a light coat of red to let the yellow show through to give me orange. I removed the egg and let it dry, then I dipped the very end in to the red again for the full 3 minutes to get a nice crimson.

Oh man, it was working, my fingers were tired but it was looking cool. After the colors dried thoroughly I turned the egg over and dipped the egg into the blue, I submerged it just a bit past the yellow and held it in place for only 30 seconds. The blue seemed dark and I really wanted to make sure to let the yellow shine through the blue so I could achieve green. BAM! I then dipped just the bottom 2/7th in blue again, and held for the full three minutes. Then, after drying, dipped just the end into the red dye for a minute making a sweet purple!

I had achieved a pretty darn good spectrum egg. The O'Neil sisters lesson and dye recipe worked egg-stremely well and I think the world is a better place now that these rainbow eggs exist in it.

My son and I had fun this morning watching Marty Brandl’s tips, tax and discounts lesson and practicing estimation. Charlie hadn’t done much estimating before because math answers in class need to be precise. He was surprised to hear about contexts where being exact isn’t important. Too bad I can’t just estimate everything on my tax return forms!

After practicing we started looking online for more information about tipping. How did the custom originate? How does the practice differ in other regions? Are you supposed to tip barbers the same percentage as restaurant wait staff? Most of those questions were answered on the extensive Wikipedia page, but an infographic on Mint’s blog was more fun. It shows tip etiquette for a variety of countries and a lot of detail on customary tip ranges for 15 different US services. And did you know that people tip $40 billion each year in the US?!

Whether you are comparing prices with various discounts or want to quickly bust out a fair or generous tip, Marty’s lesson is a great refresher.

After stopping by the local store - thanks again, Willows! - I queued up the lessons, put on workout clothes, and placed the wine in the freezer to chill. Challenge accepted.

The Binge Hour:

Lesson 1. The first challenge on my list was uBloom’s flower arranging lesson. I trimmed the stems, filled my vase with water, and in about 3 minutes I had put together my first flower arrangement.

Total time spent: 5 minutes, 45 seconds

Lesson 2. Next up was the history of Saint Patrick - though it turns out Patrick wasn’t even his real name! For this challenge, I submitted a photo of the green cupcakes I baked in honor of Mr. Maewyn Succat.

Total time spent: 9 minutes, 10 seconds

Lesson 3. With only 9 minutes down, it was time for the third challenge - French Phrases for Love. My favorite new phrase is "Je vis d'amour et d'eau fraiche." Apparently "I live on love and fresh water" is a popular saying amongst French lovers.

Total time spent: 24 minutes

Lesson 4. After racing through the first 3 lessons, it was time for pilates with Sean Vigue. This 8 minute beginner's routine was the perfect way to unwind after a long day.

Total time spent: 32 minutes, 45 seconds

Lesson 5. After pilates I couldn’t wait to taste the two different wines I picked out - I even got my roommates to partake in this lesson! I pressed play, relaxed, and sipped on wine for the last 30 minutes of the challenge.

Total time spent: 1 hour

Challenge complete. Good luck and happy (binge) learning! Tweet @curious to let us know which 5 lessons you chose!

P.S. For a full list of the first 13 lessons, check out the Curious 52 page here.

I’m a mid-thirties programmer of average fitness -- which means I’m as fit as a 65-year-old marketer (or our CEO in his 90s). As a business traveller, I also spend a lot of time in hotels. It’s hard to stay fit on the road! Far from your gym and your kitchen, it’s easy for hard-won good habits go out the window.

Lora’s 15-Minute Full-Body Workout Routine looked like a great match: it’s a workout you can do in a hotel room, without needing any weights or machines. You just need some clothes you can get sweaty in, and a chair for tricep dips. I ended up running through it in the hotel fitness center, next to other business travellers sweating on the ellipticals.

The workout starts out with figure-8s; I used an 8-pound medicine ball (a mistake! My neck and shoulders complained enough that I dropped to 4 pounds afterwards). After that it was squats, the shoulder-touch plank (ouch), tricep dips, and toe-touches. The first set wasn’t bad -- though I was definitely breathing hard -- but by the second set I was sweating and cursing the hotel’s breakfast buffet. The third set was ragged, and afterwards I lay on the fitness room floor for a little while and just recovered.

Lora kindly explained that it’s okay to take a 1-minute rest between sets if you need to. Every time through the workout, you should aim to rest less. That’s what makes it such a good workout in such a short time: you keep pressing hard, and your body will rise to the challenge.

I’ll keep that in mind for tomorrow when I try again. This time with less breakfast pancakes first!

Brace yourself...hummus is taking this country by storm, one food blog at a time. For centuries hummus has been a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine, and now the rest of the world is getting in on the delicious trend.

This weekend, I jumped on the hummus bandwagon and finally learned how to make some myself.

After picking up a couple ingredients from the local store, I was ready to go. While I’m normally hesitant to make anything more complicated than toast, this recipe was simple, tasty, and only took about 5 minutes to make!

Tips & Tricks:

If you don’t have a food processor, try a blender instead. I used a magic bullet and the hummus turned out great.

Like Blanche suggests, adjust the ingredients until you find a recipe you love. I liked mine with a little extra garlic!

Spice up traditional hummus by adding in different ingredients. Use red peppers to add a little kick, or avocado to make it extra smooth.

Hummus is much more than just a dip - try it as a sandwich spread, or as an alternative to cream cheese or butter

Blanche's homemade hummus was such a hit with my roommates, we even ate it for breakfast the next morning.

If you’re like me, you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with friends, a few pints, and all the green clothing you own. I don’t think I ever actually stopped to think that Saint Patrick was a real person--let alone who he actually was. Jeremiah Warren painted a picture (an animated one at that) of Saint Patrick. There were findings here that turned my view of St. Patty’s Day upside down.

First off, he wasn’t named Patrick! I’m metaphorically dropping the mic. Earth-shattering. Turns out his real name was Maewyn. Saint Maewyn’s Day doesn’t have the same ring to it so thanks to him for changing his name to Patrecius and someone else for making that Patrick. No need to thank the person who changed Patrick to Patty’s, they were just being lazy.

In all seriousness Saint Patrick sounds like an amazing person. He must have been a very convincing pitchman to convert so many Irish to Christianity and I was blown away by his compassion for his former slave master. I wish that story could have ended with less fire and more handshakes.

In the spirit of St. Patty’s Day, my colleague Maggie baked some green cupcakes. Despite winning the Curious holiday party dessert competition--the single greatest baking achievement of my lifetime--I’ll be enjoying these delicious treats courtesy of her. However you celebrate this year, Happy Saint Maewyn’s Day!

After years of wearing its shape into my back pockets, my “genuine leather” wallet finally started to come apart at the seams. First in the billfold, now in the credit card holder. So it was with some reluctance that I started in on this week’s Curious 52 challenge—to replace my trusty old friend with a new duct tape carry-all.

The sentiment faded fast as I started to get excited about my new accessory. I started by making some customizations to make sure that my wallet would fit my back pocket. I like to fold my bills; it’s a small price to pay to keep my wallet snug in a pocket and out of view.

From there it was a simple process of measuring pieces of tape and sticking them together. In minutes I had formed my billfold and was moving onto my credit card holder.

When I grabbed my tape to start assembling the accordion pocket, I was disappointed to find that I had hit the end of my roll. Luckily I had already assembled something with more room and functionality than my old wallet.

Tips:

Start with a fresh roll of tape!

Try using a roll of checkerboard tape. It looks pretty cool and eliminates the need for a ruler (just count the squares).

When you stick two pieces of tape together, make sure they’re totally lined up! It’s hard to pull them apart.

For this week’s Curious 52 Challenge, I learned how to repair a hole in my jeans. Because my jean collection is actually in good shape, I put out an office-wide call to see if any Curious employees needed theirs stitched up.

Kristen brought in her favorite pair of jeans from college, and to work I went.

Although Professor Pincushion’s lesson uses a sewing machine for the zigzag stitch, I decided to sew by hand - like many of you may. To adapt the stitch, I rewatched the “Sewing” section a couple times to figure out the anatomy of the stitch.

It was simple to recreate -- just think of the machine zigzag stitch as the “perfect” version of what you can do by hand.

Remember - denim is pretty forgiving. Don’t be afraid to make some small mistakes!

Here I am in the Curious lounge, using the Curious iOS app throughout my project.

To set up, I threaded my needle, and knotted it at the end. I started off my row by threading the needle through the inside of the pant leg, so the tied end was hidden. Then I zigzagged away!

Tips for all you hand-sewers:

Be careful that your fabric scrap doesn’t double under while you’re sewing, so you accidentally stitch through 3 layers instead of two. This happened to me!

Make sure that when you’re pulling the needle through, your excess thread doesn’t get knotted on itself - I encountered this issue more than once and had to start all over

Handle the edges of the hole delicately - if you don’t, the fabric may fray further and make your hole bigger

The finished product.

A close-up.

This challenge rekindled my love for sewing - I haven’t had a needle in hand since 3rd grade! Maybe a sewing machine purchase is in my future.